The Chelsea Fringe

Commencing on Saturday, the Chelsea Fringe celebrates the forthcoming RHS Chelsea Flower Show with an extended programme of horticultural events around London. There is a huge variety of events – most of which are free – on offer: visitors can enjoy everything from treasure hunts to floral-themed cocktails. See the Chelsea Fringe website for full programme details. 18 May-9 Jun

Museums at Night

An inspirational festival for those of a nocturnal persuasion, Museums at Night opens up most of London’s cultural institutions for three evenings of learning, exploration and fun. Whatever your interests, there should be something for you; whether that’s a pyjama party at Hampton Court Palace, a 1940s-themed event at the RAF Museum or a tour of the magnificent Banqueting House. For a full list of events, times and ticket prices, visit the Museums at Night website. 16-18 May 

Propaganda: Power and Persuasion at the British Library 

A must for anyone who is curious about how governments communicate with and influence their citizens, the British Library’s new exhibition promises to be a fascinating insight into international state propaganda. Concentrating on the 20th and 21st centuries, the exhibition uses posters, films, cartoons and texts to illustrate the sometimes surprising ways in which people can be informed, mis-informed or persuaded. Entry is free for under 18s or £9 for adults.. 17 May-17 Sep

Curiosities and Quirky Fans at the Fan Museum

Celebrate the quirkier side of fan-making at this wonderful small museum in Greenwich. At this new exhibition you can explore the history of ‘alternative’ fan-making and see how craftsmen have incorporated both unusual objects and designs into their beautiful creations. Admission is £4 for adults. 15 May-1 Sep

Gefiltefest  

Get the best challah, falafels and bagels in town at the Gefiltefest London Jewish Food Festival. Taking place at Ivy House, the former home of ballerina Anna Pavlova, the festival will offer a mix of food stalls, cooking demonstrations, lectures, tastings and workshops. Highlights include talks by award-winning Jewish authors, a chance to find out who won the 2013 Jewish Food awards, and a debate on the merits of eating locust. Adult tickets are £25. 19 May

More events in London

Rob Eagle’s video highlights some of the brilliant free things to do in London, from the British Museum to the Hunterian Museum.

The film won the Raindance Film Festival award in UCL’s London for Free competition.

Having just returned from a three-week trip to northern India, the British Library‘s latest exhibition makes me all nostalgic.

It is the first comprehensive look at the art of the Mughals, a dynasty whose empire spanned much of the Indian subcontinent during the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As Muslims from Persia who ruled over a Hindu majority, the Mughals did not crush their Indian subjects, but fused their artistic skills and resources together, producing iconic creations like the Taj Mahal.

On my visit to India, it was impossible to visit any place in the romantic desert state of Rajasthan, or even in hectic and maddening Delhi, without stumbling across art and architecture that tells the story of the Mughals and their power struggles, romance and deep regard for the arts, as well as their eventual decline when the British came along in the 1800s.

Building an Empire

You’re bound to recognise the subject of this drawing in the exhibition, created in 1812-15. The Taj Mahal is one of the most well-known monuments in the world, and I’m happy to say it deserves its reputation as the most beautiful. The Mughals were prolific builders of forts, palaces and monuments and this legacy marks local people today – the Taj Mahal is maintained by descendants of the original 20,000 craftspeople who worked on its site in Agra for 22 years to create the breathtakingly symetrical building, a monument for Mumtaz Mahal, the late queen of the emperor Shah Jahan.

Fathers and Sons

Emperor Shah Jahan, famous for building the Taj Mahal, is pictured in this painting greeting his son Aurangzeb at the court or durbar in 1650-1655. Court rituals such as this demonstrate the complex hierarchy of life at court, but just a few years later Aurangzeb overthrew his father and imprisoned him for the rest of his life in Agra Fort, where he could only gaze at the Taj Mahal from a distance.

Colonialism

One of the first successful British missions to India was that of the ambassador Sir Thomas Roe. His journal entries from 1616 make a rare appearance in the British Library exhibition. Roe was presented to the fourth Mughal emperor Jahangir on 10 January 1616 and described him as “very merrie and joyfull” in the journal.

Final Days

Monuments like Delhi’s Red Fort, pictured in this painting, are legacies of Mughal creativity but also tell the story of Britain and India. This artwork was created in the dying days of the dynasty 1846. In 1857, the last Mughal emperor was dethroned here by the British.

Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire is at the British Library until 2 April. Tickets are £9 with reductions for concessions, seniors and students.

Dickens: Dark London, Museum of London

Museum of London has launched an interactive graphic novel to coincide with its Dickens and London exhibition. Accompany Dickens on his night time walks and experience the darker side of Dickensian London in this app, based on Dickens’ short stories. Dickens: Dark London is illustrated by David Foldvari and voiced by actor Mark Strong. New editions will be released monthly. Dickens: Dark London, iPhone and iPad only, first edition free, subsequent editions, £1.49

Treasures by The British Library

Get your fingers on a handwritten draft of Nicholas Nickleby with The British Library’s Treasures app. This fascinating manuscript from the library’s collection is now available to view in a digital format on your phone, and shows the corrections and alterations Dickens made to the story. Among the other, erm, treasures on the app are sketches by Leonardo da Vinci, a first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and audio excerpts from the library’s expert curators. iPhone and Android editions (£2.39), HD iPad edition (£3.49)

Dickens Map on Spottd

Find and visit highlights of Dickensian London on location-based sharing app Spottd. The Dickens map pinpoints famous locations from his novels, as well as some of Dickens’ own favourite haunts, including his family home in Camden; The Prospect of Whitby pub; and The Old Curiosity Shop on Portsmouth Street (often cited as the inspiration for the novel of the same name). Spottd, iPhone only, free

What do you think of these apps and are there any we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments below?

7 February 2012 marks 200 years since Dickens’ birth and institutions and organisations all over the world are staging a variety of cultural events to celebrate.

The programme, called Dickens 2012, is being co-ordinated by the Charles Dickens Museum and Film London and patrons include Sir Derek Jacobi, Peter Ackroyd and Claire Tomalin.

In London – the city that Dickens more than anyone else helped to document and mythologise – venues include the British Library, BFI Southbank and of course the Charles Dickens Museum. The main highlights are:

• Dickens and London at the Museum of London
  See original Dickens’ manuscripts and discover what London was like in Victorian times. Until 10 Jun
• Dickens on Screen at the BFI Southbank
  The largest ever retrospective of film and TV works based on or inspired by Charles Dickens. Until 28 Feb
• A Hankering after Ghosts: Charles Dickens and the Supernatural at The British Library
  Discover Dickens’ fascination with the supernatural and how it features in his writing. Until 4 March
• Charles Dickens: Life and Legacy at the National Portrait Gallery
  A unique collection of prints, drawings, and photographs illustrating Dickens’ life and circle. Until 22 April

Other Dickens 2012 events are at the V&A Museum of Childhood, the V&A itself and there’s even a Dickens book club at Foyles bookshop. (My 2012 resolution is to finally finish Little Dorrit).

For more information on Dickens 2012 visit www.dickens2012.org. And use the comments below to let us know if you’ve enjoyed any of the bicentenary events, or even your favourite Dickensian London spot.

Dickens often walked the streets of London at night to piece together ideas for stories and characters. This exhibition takes you on a similar tour of Dickensian London, showing how the city he called his “magic lantern” inspired his famous tales.

Like any Dickens novel, there’s plenty of information about the grimy, poverty-stricken side of London in the 1800s. But there are also cheerier aspects on display, such as a beautiful painting of people enjoying Hyde Park in the summer, strolling, relaxing and playing – just like Londoners do today.

My favourite exhibits were:

• Handwritten letters by Charles Darwin, plus one of his own inkwells
• A display of period doorknockers (straight out of A Christmas Carol!)
• Dickens’ writing desk and chair

Also, Museum of London have added to their excellent app collection with Dickens: Dark London, a gorgeous-looking, graphic novel app, with monthly additions, available from 9 December.

Dickens and London, Museum of London, 9 Dec-10 Jun (admission charge). Get two-for-one entry to Dickens and London with our special offer

Please Sir, Can I Have Some More….

Celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens in 2012 with more Dickens-themed activities in London:

• The Charles Dickens Museum: See where the author lived between 1837 and 1839
• Meet Ebenezer Scrooge: Visit one of Dickens’ most famous characters in the grottos of Museum of London and Museum of London Docklands between 27 December and 1 January, and win a prize if you can cheer him up!
• The British Library: Charles Dickens and the Supernatural examines how Dickens used supernatural phenomena in his stories. Until 4 March
• BFI Southbank: Dickens on Film showcases archive footage of classic Dickens adaptations and examines his contribution to film and television history. 15 December
• Charles Dicken’s London: Our guide to the London landmarks featured in Charles Dickens’ novels

Shreena Soomarah is a copywriter whose parents emigrated from Mauritius more than 30 years ago.

There is no one race, religion, cuisine, or way of life that defines Mauritius. Much like London, life there is a cosmopolitan existence.  No wonder the two cultures get on so well, and so many Mauritians choose London as their second home.

There are a few places you can find Mauritian culture in London:

• The Mauritian Open Air Festival takes place each July in Down Lane Park, Tottenham, and offers Mauritian cuisine and performances by some of the biggest names in Mauritian music
• Tune into Spectrum Radio, a radio station based in Clapham, to hear Mauritian sega and soca music, plus programmes dedicated to the Mauritian community in the UK
• The first Mauritian post office stamps are among the rarest in the world and can be viewed as part of the Tapling Collection at the British Library.  Dating back to 1847, only 500 of each value were produced
• At the Natural History Museum, you can see a native Dodo.  These are a Mauritian emblem, having been made extinct when the country was colonised

Where else can you find Mauritian culture in London? Let us know in the comments below.

The new exhibition at the British Library is subtitled “Science Fiction but not as you know it” and aims to demonstrate the genre’s often overlooked breadth and depth.

Breadth is represented by the range of authors, including writers from 2nd century Roman Empire to 21st century China by way of the Brontë sisters, and topics, everything from first contact with aliens to the end of the world, from cyberpunk to steampunk. Depth comes from the examination of such themes as what it means to be human and how we relate to the universe around us and the technology we use.

The emphasis is on the written word – mostly prose fiction but also graphic novels, comic books, manga and poetry – with original authors’ manuscripts sitting alongside mass-market editions. There are film clips and science fiction inspired music, and should you be inspired, or just think you can do better, you can design your own alien.

In the middle of the exhibition you’ll  find a TARDIS , which when added to the one at the Doctor Who Experience, the one at the The London Film Museum and the real police box at Earl’s Court means London must currently be a nexus in the space-time continuum. Or something like that.

Science fiction fans and newcomers alike will come away with a lengthy list of books they want to read.

Out of this World is on at the British Library until 25 September 2011. Free admission to the exhibition itself. Tickets to the surrounding programme of talks and screenings are £7.50, £5.00 concessions.

Karolina Kolodziej from the Polish Cultural Institute tells us where to find a taste of Poland in London for our World in London series.

Since 2004, the cultural picture of the UK’s capital has dramatically changed. “The Poles are coming!” the British newspapers shouted. And so we came… in quite big numbers actually (some estimated the total at one million!).

Polish shops (polski sklep) sprang up in every London borough and our rustling language can be heard on practically every street corner.

But our relationship with the UK goes way back and has for a long time influenced cultural life in the capital. Bonnie Prince Charlie was the son of James Francis Edward Stewart and Polish aristocrat Maria Klementyna Sobieska, daughter of the Polish King Jan III Sobieski.

Funnily enough, Poland Street in London’s Soho was named in honour of King Sobieski, who won the Battle of Vienna in 1683 defending Europe against the Ottoman Empire’s army.

The Second World War saw the Polish flying aces fighting in the Battle of Britain and our mathematicians helping to break the Enigma code. After the war, Polish soldiers and their families settled down in the UK, many of them in London, choosing areas such as Ealing and Hammersmith to build their new lives.

The next generations became prominent individuals in the capital’s cultural life, from composers, musicians, artists, to museum and gallery directors, film producers and directors, designers, architects… the list goes on.

So find your Polish London! Here are a few clues on how to discover it:

Try our food delicacies. Be brave and venture into one of London’s many Polish shops, buy some kieÅ‚basa (polish name for sausage) for the barbeque and try our bread.

Visit one of the Polish restaurants. We highly recommend Baltic in Southwark or The Knaypa in Hammersmith, which serve modern Polish cuisine and great vodka cocktails.

See some Polish contemporary art. Works of PaweÅ‚ Althamer, Zbigniew Libera, MirosÅ‚aw BaÅ‚ka, Wilhelm Sasnal and Artur Å»mijewski can be seen in Tate Modern as well commercial galleries such as Gagosian or White Cube. You can also check out London’s branch of Warsaw gallery Lokal 30.

Look out for Polish classical and jazz music. Our orchestras, bands and soloists visit the UK capital very regularly with concerts in venues such as the Barbican, Southbank Centre or Wigmore Hall.

Every March, we host the Polish Film Festival Kinoteka with the crème de la crème of Polish cinematography being screened at the Riverside Studios, Prince Charles Cinema, BFI Southbank and the Barbican.

Don’t forget to grab a Polish read. Books by established writers such as MiÅ‚osz, KapuÅ›ciÅ„ski and Mrożek, as well as contemporaries including Huelle, Tokarczuk and Krajewski, are available in every good bookshop. And for a real literary treat, visit the British Library and ask for the Polish Collection, to see the historical gems as old as 15th century.

So no excuses - Polish London is out there and within easy reach!

Check out the Polish Cultural Institute website www.PolishCulture.org.uk for regular updates on what’s to come. And let us know your Polish London recommendations below…

Every September, the current crop of London exhibitions close to make way for exciting new shows. That means it’s your last chance to see some of the summer’s hottest exhibitions…

Closing on 5 September:

• Rude Britannia: British Comic Art
• Ernesto Neto
• The New Décor
• Francis Alys
• Urban Africa – David Adjaye’s Photographic Journey
• Sustainable Futures

Closing later this month:

• Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes, Discoveries – 12 Sep
• The Surreal House – 12 Sep
• Magnificent Maps – 19 Sep
• Wolfgang Tillmans – 19 Sep
• BP Portrait Award – 19 Sep
• Sargent and the Sea – 26 Sep

But don’t worry, there’s plenty to look forward to this autumn. Major new exhibitions include Gauguin, Treasures from Budapest, Serge Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, and the Turner Prize.